Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usWed, 01 Feb 2012 19:13:50 +0000Meet the couple behind T-Rex Trying, the cute new comic that has Tumblr buzzinghttp://www.dailydot.com/upstream/t-rex-trying-interview/<p><img src='http://cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/6d/b3/6db3f49721d12e765944a1879c7253c0.jpg'></p><p>
During the Cretaceous period, the Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest and deadliest predators to roam the earth. Today, it&rsquo;s one of the funniest.</p>
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Inspired in part by <em>Toy Story</em>, <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/">T-Rex Trying</a> is a new Tumblr blog that features hilarious hand-drawn illustrations of the dinosaur attempting to use its stubby little arms to load bags into an <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/16863327089/t-rex-trying-to-work-at-the-airport-trextrying">airplane</a>, eat at a <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/16760274116/t-rex-trying-to-use-a-buffet-with-a-sneeze">buffet</a>, and steal food from a <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/16617522630/t-rex-trying-to-steal-from-a-vending-machine">vending machine</a>.</p>
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The blog is the brainchild of Hugh and Sarah Murphy of Los Angeles. The couple started the Tumblr less than a week ago, after four months&#39; worth of T. rex jokes from Hugh and his brothers.</p>
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&ldquo;I originally started the cartoon to send to my brothers throughout the day to just make them laugh and cheer them up. It just grew from there,&rdquo; Hugh told the Daily Dot. &ldquo;When I was a little kid I had a pencil and computer paper and I just drew all sorts of dinosaurs, all sorts of sharks, little kid things.&rdquo;</p>
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Hugh has since upgraded to using a marker, but the rest of the process remains very much the same. Most of the comics were thought up while driving daily to the University of Southern California, where Hugh is a dentistry student and Sarah raises funds for the business school. The idea for the first comic, which features a T. rex trying to <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/16321410829/t-rex-trying-to-paint-his-house-trextrying">paint a house</a>, struck Hugh while he was in the shower last week. It has since become the most popular comic on the site, collecting more than 24,000 notes.</p>
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&ldquo;He was cackling the whole time while he was drawing it,&rdquo; recalled Sarah, who saw Hugh run out of the shower to draw it. &ldquo;It was pretty funny.&rdquo;</p>
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Hugh&rsquo;s quirky illustrations have struck a chord with Tumblr users and redditors, who have helped the blog collect more than 12,000 followers and 262,000 views. In a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/p39bp/trex_trying_things/">front-page</a> Reddit post Tuesday, more than 1,100 users complimented the blog on its creativity and jokingly expressed sadness for the extinct carnivore.</p>
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&ldquo;Everyone here is making fun of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Well you know what, reddit? There&#39;s something else T-rexes are really good at, besides playing the <a href="http://trextrying.tumblr.com/post/16663828214/t-rex-trying-to-play-the-bass-the-banjo-the">ukuele</a>: Preying upon other dinosaurs, eating them, and successfully reproducing for millions of years,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/p39bp/trex_trying_things/c3m5wku">commented</a> JoelQ. &ldquo;These motherfuckers dominated the Cretaceous period with an iron fist. You know what T-Rex means? It&#39;s Greek for TYRANT OF ALL.&rdquo;</p>
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After seeing the blog take off on Reddit, Sarah started a <a href="http://trextrying.spreadshirt.com/">Spread Shirt</a> store to sell T-shirts featuring the comics. More than 70 have been sold thus far, she said.</p>
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&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty unbelievable,&rdquo; Sarah said. &ldquo;We really can&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;</p>
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T. rex can&#39;t either, but the creature&#39;s trying.&nbsp;</p>
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<img alt="" src="http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2012/1/29/t_rex_snow_angels.png" style="width: 620px; height: 463px; " /></p>
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<em>Photos by T-Rex Trying</em></p>
fernando@dailydot.com (Fernando Alfonso III)Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:13:50 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/upstream/t-rex-trying-interview/TumblrUpstream